How about that defense?

by Mike Prada on Oct 22, 2008 11:20 PM EDT in Recaps

Great, great effort from all the guys tonight. As bad as we were in Europe, we were that good in this game. I wouldn't worry too much about the late comeback, since San Antonio was jacking threes and our young guys were getting a little sloppy. A few quick thoughts:

First, four factors.

Team	Pace	Eff	eFG%	FT/FT	OREB%	TOr
Wizards	94	106.4	54.4	17.7	19	18.1
Spurs		101.1	48.8	21.3	23.3	19.1

The story of this game has to be our defense. It looked so much sharper than before in the preseason and, for that matter, last season. Rotations were really strong, everyone was cutting off the pick and roll well and jumpers were contested. Etan started the game and mostly did a good job, but so did Blatche, Songaila and McGee. That might be one thing that improves without Haywood, because for some reason, Eddie always made him hedge out to the three-point line when he's too important to leave the paint. Etan's at least better suited to do what Eddie/Ayers want.

Offensively, we were hitting our shots, but that FT/FG number is really concerning. Caron and Nick Young were both great, but all they did was shoot jumpers. They went in tonight, but what happens if they don't go in another time? That's where Gilbert's really missed, and without him for a good chunk of the season, Caron needs to be more aggressive instead of being content to launch threes.

As far as the young guys go, Nick was great, though he didn't play any differently than usual. JaVale was also really solid; he made some mistakes, but you can tell he's playing smarter on defense. On one play in the second quarter, Matt Bonner drove on him and pump faked, but instead of jumping, JaVale just kept his arms straight up and made Bonner shoot some ugly running hook. Blatche really struggled though, he's got to pick his play up.

The scary thing is that when our jumpers aren't falling, we can't turn to one guy to create a high-percentage inside shot. Not having Haywood in there hurts even more, because Etan can't finish around the rim like Brendan. But all that's a problem for another day. I'm happy that our defense seems to be in prime form after sucking for most of the preseason.

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The defensive stances.....

looked much more focused than I’ve seen in awhile.

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by Kyle Weidie on Oct 23, 2008 2:13 AM EDT reply actions

Nice to hear

that JaVale is learing to keep his feet on the head fakes because in Europe he was flying high every time his man twitched. When you have a 7’6" wingspan on a 7 foot body, jumping isn’t always necessary. Ask Manute Bol.

by mlarroca on Oct 23, 2008 10:02 AM EDT reply actions

He did......

Get faked out of his jock by a composed Kurt Thomas on one play……Thomas proceed to hit a Timmy Duncan-esque jumper off the glass….but McGee will learn.

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by Kyle Weidie on Oct 23, 2008 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions

But...

That was really the only time he got faked out really bad. He also let TD get really really good position on one play , but those were the only two serious gaffes I noticed. Let’s face, the kid looks like an NBA player. Not a star or anything yet, but someone who probably shouldn’t be put in the D-League for an entire year like some jerk named mamemimo said.

The Washington Wizards: providing career scoring nights for unknown opposing bench players since 2004.

by mamemimo on Oct 23, 2008 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions

Oh yea....that was the only big gaffe I noticed....

just felt is was worth mentioning.

And yes, I was certainly perturbed when we drafted the guy….boy, I’m sure going back on those thoughts now…..

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by Kyle Weidie on Oct 23, 2008 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions

Well, he also

Jumped forward to guard Bowen and let Bruce blow right past him for a layup attempt (was fouled by Taser I believe). There was no need to close so tight – with his length and Bruce’s poor jumper he should have hung back and prevented the drive without giving up an easy shot. Regardless, I’ll take overaggresive versus underaggresive for a young shotblocking athlete like JVM anyday. The patience and composure can be taught and/or learned – aggressiveness cannot (See: Brown, Kwame).

Getting buckets since 2003.

by Icantfeelmyface on Oct 23, 2008 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions

Except

He did turn the ball over 4 times…. and tends to be a black hole on Offense (once it goes in, the ball never comes back out)….

but it’s not like Etan Thomas limits his TO’s, or is a great passer either…

McGee does seem to bite on fakes; although not as much now, as earlier in the Preseason – which may say something about his ability to learn quickly…. But what really impresses me is that every game, he does things that make you go “WOW, did you see that?”

Against the Spurs, he had a sweet turn around baseline Jumper over Tim Duncan – and later had a nice one-dribble pull up jumper from the Foul Line over Kurt Thomas…. Then there was the alley-oop pass from McGuire that JaVale stuffed for 2.

The last game were the blocks, including one against Chris Paul, that had him talking about it after the game.

by Rook6980 on Oct 23, 2008 12:37 PM EDT up reply actions

One thing about his TOs

I liked his reaction to them. Especially when he traveled on a post move. He just passed the ball to the ref immediately and jogged down the court without saying a word to the ref. Kid’s got composure at least.

The Washington Wizards: providing career scoring nights for unknown opposing bench players since 2004.

by mamemimo on Oct 23, 2008 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions